Huskies entering new role

Last season, they were the underdogs, now it?s a new role for the Highland boys? basketball team.

With the vast majority of the team returning, early prognosticators have the Huskies as one of the early favorites in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division, but head coach Marcus Hall wants to make sure the team stays humble.

?We still haven?t accomplished much, but we have established ourselves a little bit more,? Hall said. ?Now, these preseason rankings that used to have us at seventh or eighth, where we could find motivation through that, they have us near the top now.?

Despite losing their top three scorers from the previous season, the 2014-15 Huskies finished one game behind Lone Tree for the North Division title. This season, Highland loses only one athlete who played in nearly every game, and the Huskies know they will get every team?s best shot.

?We need to play like people are coming to get us,? Hall said. ?That gives us more of a sense of urgency. Nobody notices when the underdog loses, so they are playing with house money. We need to have a sense of paranoia, and the team has embraced that. They understand we have a lot of potential.?

The one graduated senior from last year?s team was Jesse Wollrab, who was a first-team All-Conference selection, averaged 7.6 points and 4.4 assists per game for Highland, and his impact could be found in other parts of the team, according to Hall.

?Jesse meant a lot more than the points, rebounds and assists, and those quantifiable things,? Hall said. ?He had a lot of intangibles. He was a voice in the locker room and in practices. We have a few leaders, but it?s still to be determined about who is going to fill that role.?

One potential X-factor for the Huskies will be senior Tucker Hall.

The Highland veteran established himself as one of the premiere shooters in the conference last season, knocking down a conference-leading 58 three-point shots at a clip of 41.4 percent in his junior campaign.

That impressive percentage is something his head coach thinks could improve upon this season.

?Tucker has become a better shooter and is a little stronger now,? Marcus Hall said. ?When kids go from being 16 or 17 years old to 17 or 18 years old, things happen naturally, so he?s quicker and stronger. He?s a better all-around player. His night won?t hinge on his shooting percentage. I think he can play well and still go 1-of-7 from three.?

Highland also returns first-team All-Conference selection Trent Lasek, who was a unanimous selection the All-Conference team a season ago.

Lasek averaged 14.2 points, 4.5 assists and two steals per game as a sophomore, and is joined by senior Nick Sandburg, who scored 7.9 points per game and a team-high 5.3 rebounds per game.

With a heartbreaking one-point loss to West Burlington in a district final ending the season last year, the Huskies certainly remember the game, but Marcus said he thought the big takeaway from the game was that his team looked different.

?During the summer it was big,? Marcus Hall said. ?West Burlington did a good job of exploiting our weaknesses. We lost that game by one, but I felt like we lost by 15, because we didn?t come to play and display the things we did all year long. We went 18-5 last year, but lost two of our last three games.?

The fifth-year head coach said he took a long look at how he organized practices and is hoping some changes to the schedule will help keep his team more fresh at the end of this season.

Hall has also had to adjust to a unique problem for a program that seemed to establish itself a season ago, dealing with low numbers on the squad.

With only 13 athletes currently out for the team, Highland had to cancel its junior varsity season and focus more attention on the athletes it has. However, that could help improve the team, Hall said.

?We have returning players but 11 guys in practice jerseys,? Hall said. ?With that, you can worry about the details and the execution, as opposed to how do you get these 30 guys to work together for the drills to go smooth. There?s a lot less hand-holding and I anticipate our execution to be far ahead of where we were last year.?

As the Huskies adjust to new circumstances, they?ll get some of their first live action on Monday night, when they face Mt. Pleasant at the Mid-Prairie exhibition jamboree, before opening the season at home against Cardinal on Dec. 1.